Intro Log: Fly, My Pretties!

[hadrielmods]

What: The intro log for May
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: May 10th-14th
Warnings: Flying monkeys! New friends! Prosthetic limbs!

Here in Hadriel, we do introductions right. That means dumping you on the ground of an old Roman-style Colosseum with a bunch of scary monsters and also a bunch of weird shit. Your monster of the day happens to be Winged Monkeys, more commonly known as flying monkeys, from the Wizard of Oz and affiliated stories!

As you may have been able to guess, these creatures can fly and they're rather intelligent- intelligent enough to wield spears and daggers as crude weapons and strong enough to pick someone right up off the ground and fly with them to a perch, where they'll... you know, stab them with their knives and stuff.

Why? We don't know. It's Hadriel.

Just in case you lose a couple of limbs in the process of escaping these critters, we've got you covered. Scattered around the newbies are prosthetic limbs for various body parts. These limbs are all fully functional, even if they look a bit... odd, so if you've lost an arm or two, or a leg, or even a pinkie finger, feel free to grab one and try to figure out how to use it!

Good job dealing with those monkeys! It's kind of a weird thing to be threatening, but clearly someone was afraid of them once. Once you're done, you can explore the rest of the city! Find a house, a new monster, a project to help with, or simply scavenge for supplies. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers May 10th-14th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► All characters arrive with phones that have network communication and the newbie guide installed.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

Comments

avisheh razi ( ota )

[unnature]

[Avisheh has settled herself into a corner with a bottle of lager. She'll just watch the dancing and singing, thank you. She's got a lack of balance and a voice that has never hit a high note so much as squeaked a falsetto. She's content to watch, though, and laugh at anyone who attempts and fails some karaoke.

Later on, she can be found in the game room with another lager, pulling out a game of Battleship to drop unsuspectingly in front of a random person.]

How do you play this?

[abyssalarcana]

[Caedra, meanwhile, visits the speakeasy regularly for lack of other entertainment here. She turns up at odd hours and serves herself, more often than not, and often has much of the place to herself and her glass of wine.

So when some stranger disturbs her with some strange game - well. It's unexpected. But not entirely unwelcome, either. She enjoys the company, likes meeting the newcomers to the city. Enjoys evaluating them. Who might cooperate, and who is worthless? Who would be the easiest to kill for blood, should she need it in a pinch for a ritual like the one she conducted early after her arrival? It helps to keep a mental list.]

I don't know. Shall we figure it out? Also - your name? I don't believe we've met.

[It might have instructions. She doesn't really care what they say, though, preferring to make up her own rules.]

[unnature]

[If only Avisheh knew she was being evaluated, she would be absolutely delighted to figure out where she falls on this fucked up spectrum.

As it stands, she grins at the ease with which the stranger simply accepts the game, despite not having any experience with it either.]

Dr. Razi. It promises "classic naval combat," [she says, indicating the box.] We didn't have this on the Nexus, so of course I picked it first.

[Checkers, chess? Boring. People like Avisheh do enjoy a game of chess where she can outwit her opponent, but if she wants to do that, she'd just play poker. Right now, though, she's in the mood for something she's never even heard of before.]

[abyssalarcana]

Doesn't look classic to me.

[But she smiles, intending it as a joke. Surely, 'classic naval combat' wouldn't look so foreign. Wooden boats, perhaps, with rows of oarsmen and sailors with shields at the ready to protect their mage or priest would count as classic. Not these strange gray alien structures.]

Call me Caedra. Is the Nexus your home world, Dr. Razi?

[unnature]

[You'd think the grey, steel ships represented by the little pieces in the game of Battleship would be more familiar to Avisheh, considering the level of advanced technology that went into making her legs, but there is no ocean on the Nexus with which to hold naval combat. It is far too small.

So yeah, she'd be more familiar with the wooden boats as well.]

It's not the world I was born in, but I'd consider it my home world, yes.

[She sets the cane in her hand that she's juggling with her bottle of lager -- you try holding two things when you use a cane -- down against the table and takes a seat across from Caedra. She takes a swig of the beer and opens the box. There is a very weird board insice. It's like. Three dimensional? What kind of board game is this.]

Oh look, there are instructions.

[abyssalarcana]

[Perhaps it's part of why Caedra feels so completely unbothered by this stranger. A crippled mortal isn't much of a threat. Even if she's one who has magic - because sometimes you still need to be able to run. If this one walks with a cane, she's not going to get far quickly.

Check her off on the mental list of potential unwilling blood donors, then.]

I tend to think it's more fun to make up the rules as you go. [She shrugs, grins, has a drink.] But I want you to tell me more. You've traveled between worlds, then? I don't hear that often here.

[unnature]

[If Avisheh had had the means to undergo the physical therapy needed to handle a double amputation of the legs and still walk without a cane, she'd certainly be able to run fine. The nature of her advanced prosthetics, black metal and plastic, perfectly mimicked the musculature of flesh legs, and perhaps if she was Nexus-born she would've been able to afford to learn to use her legs to their fullest. She didn't have that luxury, and has been in a wheelchair longer than she's had false legs, so walking still isn't her forte.

Avisheh, at the encouragement of her Battleship partner, takes the instruction booklet and tosses it over her shoulder. She then pulls out the board, inspecting the little holes with a shrug.]

Just the once. As a young one. I hitched a ride through a Tether by pretending to be a god. No big deal, you know. Just had to get out of where I was.

[If you thought she was handicapped now, with her cane and all, you should have seen her when she still had legs in Tirazis.]

[abyssalarcana]

[Caedra grins with wide-eyed delight. She has no idea what 'Tether' is in this context but it hardly seems important right now.]

And how in the world did you convince them you were a god?

[She picks up one of the strange miniature ships and looks it over. More of this odd material they use so much of here - not ceramic or wood or bone. Lightweight. Always seems so poorly-made, though, these things - the seams are evident and sloppy. Strange - but she wants to hear this story and mostly keeps her eyes on her companion.]

[unnature]

[Avisheh smirks at the interest. It sounds a lot more adventurous in summary than in practice, where it was a lot of running tests and shrugging shoulders, but at the time she was about 13 and had never experienced anything so fantastical, being from the far less advanced world she was and coming to the most advanced in all the Universe.]

They came looking for the god of Destruction, on a tip they might be in my world. This place, the Nexus, they worship these gods that have the three most powerful Natures. Tethering, who they had, Separation, who funnily enough took my legs, and Destruction. They curate the worlds, basically, like the Universe is their museum or something.

I saw the opportunity when they explained how Natures work. It's like manipulating probability. Making it so the cards fall just the right way so something explodes, you know, stuff like that. I told them some stories of it happening around me. Mind you, they were true stories, but I didn't actually think I was a god.

[Avisheh starts randomly setting pegs in holes, because obviously that's where they go. How they proceed from there remains to be seen. She continues her story in the meantime.]

They took me through the Tether and had me scanned at refugee services in the Nexus. Came back with a Nature of Disorder. Close, but no cigar.

[abyssalarcana]

[Caedra gives a 'hmmm' of approval, smiling, as she toys with one of the plastic ships, then fits it into the holes on the board. She's dismayed to find that they simply aren't made to go at diagonals, however - unless balanced carefully, supported by the little pins.]

Clever. So these Natures, are they present in all of your people? Everyone is tied in some small way to the gods, something like that?

[unnature]

[Due to the nature of the board, Avisheh can't see what Caedra is doing with her ships.]

I think our sides are meant to be kept secret from one another. How we make that translate into classic naval combat is still up in the air.

[Taking Caedra's lead, though, she pops a ship -- the biggest one, so obviously it's the strongest -- onto one of the top pegs.]

Everyone's born with a Nature. I dunno if it ties us to the gods, not unless we win the god lottery and turn out to be one, but it's just something that follows you throughout your life. Affects your personality, your relationships, not just abilities.

Take the Separator.

[And oh, Avisheh could write a fucking essay on the Separator.]

Vida Veisi. Same world I'm from. Separated from her family, Separated from society, Separated from others like her. Et cetera. Until she flipped out and Separated the famous gardens of Tirazis from the earth.

[The doctor takes a swig of beer, mood subtly soured a bit once she's started talking about the Separator.]

I wasn't there for that, but I saw the pictures. She really did a number on the place.

[Avisheh tosses a red peg over the border between the two playing fields of the Battleship board, hoping to land it on a ship.]

[abyssalarcana]

[Oop - Avisheh has done exactly what she had assumed this game was about. Clearly throwing pegs over the divider is the most accurate way to represent a high seas battle. The red peg clatters onto the board and rolls off somewhere, though Caedra only watches it until it rolls under the table. Welp, now it's lost forever, since she can't be bothered to collect it, instead she just laughs.]

You missed! But wow, that sounds incredible. And you're Disorder! That seems like a fun one. Never boring, I bet.

[Here, have a peg tossed your way with a grin though.]

[unnature]

Not as strong as far as manipulating things as one of the gods, but yyyyup. Never boring.

[Avisheh gives a sly smile back to Caedra.]

I prefer things that way.

[And -- dammit, that actually hit her large ship. That's the drawback of size, apparently. She backs it up with the tiny one off to the side.]

What were you firing at me? A cannonball? I think that took out my mast.

[...Yeah, steel ships aren't Avisheh's forte, as previously mentioned.]

[circumitus]

[Corners are one of Rey's favorite spots to be. Not just when she's feeling antisocial (which is almost all the time), but it gives her a better view of the place overall. Helps her see what is happening.

[She isn't seated far from Avisheh, though she definitely isn't styled in her usual getup that most people who know yet well could pick her out in this place and lighting. The feminine attire of a dark green dress almost accentuates her muscles and coarser features. The thin layer of lipstick and golden eyeshadow visible even in the tinted light of the room.

[But when she sees Avisheh tending to some lager, Rey can't help but glance over with a faint smirk.]

Ah, that's one of my favorites.

[unnature]

[It does take Avisheh a second to recognize the woman who's just addressed her, far more pleasantly than the first time around. The scars and muscles certainly help, even if the makeup and dress are a much different look than what she initially saw from the woman.

A sly grin creeps over the doctor's face. The way the dress hugs Rey's muscles is pretty remarkable.]

This? [She indicates the beer in her hand.] Yeah, this style of drink is popular back home. This and spiced ciders. Basically the mainstay of any bar you went to.

[circumitus]

[Indeed, Rey appears significantly different since their last encounter, and this time for the better. Rather than getting blood all over Dr. Razi's paperwork, it turns out that Rey cleans up quite well. Which might be an understatement, given that even that mahogany mop on her head has been neatly trimmed and braided on one side.

[Surprisingly, she doesn't even mind the dress. The way the fabric sways to her movements is nice, and she's come to not balk at the looks she gets anymore. It isn't every day that she lets her more feminine side show, or that it existed at all in the first place.]

Spiced ciders, huh? [Rey mulls over that as she takes a sip of her own drink -- straight bourbon over the rocks.] Not a bad idea. Might give that a try next.

[One good thing about making her own liquor, it's that she has free reign to try new things. It's trial and error sometimes, but that's the whole journey of it.]

[unnature]

You make your own liquor too?

[Be still her black heart. Avisheh makes what she hopes is a pleading face, but mostly comes off as a predatory grin masking itself as vulnerable.]

If you could make me a spiced cider sometime, I'd be eternally grateful. All I have to offer are medical services though, and we both know that's not enticing for you. Maybe I can just offer friendship instead.

[She snickers a bit at that.]

You weren't kidding about healing fast, though.

[circumitus]

[She nods.] Managed to convince Sorrow to give us the gear to distill and brew the drinks ourselves. More work but it's not like we don't have a lot of free time.

[Rey notices Avisheh giving her that Look and snorts. Honestly, does this sort of thing need a trade deal?]

No worries, ah. Friendship is fine. Don't really need to see the clinic all that often despite our last run-in because of... that. [The fast healing part, she means. It has its benefits.]

[unnature]

[Avisheh glances back over at the bar, at the selection of beers and wines. Not to mention the vodka, scotch, whiskey, and other liquors behind the counter.]

All the drinks are your own? Even the hard liquors? I didn't know my favorite patient was so talented.

[circumitus]

Well, yes. Other people help, but. We make everything ourselves. Helps pass the time, anyway. Can't let the gods do everything for us.

[Rey rubs the back of her neck, turning head away a moment to mask the hot feeling flushing her face.

[Favorite patient? Seriously?] Take it you haven't had a whole lot of patients yet.

[unnature]

Well, you do a good job of it. I wouldn't be able to tell this lager was brewed in anything but a proper brewery.

[Avisheh grins like a very pleased cat at Rey's bashfulness.]

I have a soft spot in my heart for the first, even if she did spray blood on me.

[circumitus]

Because it is a proper brewery. [Pause.] Sort of.

[She doesn't have a whole labor force or anything other than herself and the ones who help her out here. Cough.]

Would like to say that it doesn't happen often, but... people aren't the only things that come in once a month, as you might've noticed. [It's hard not to, between the random shit and the creatures that appear in the Colosseum.]

[unnature]

Proper brewery it is. You don't have to convince me.

[She takes a swig of her drink.]

Yeah, I noticed the prosthetic legs and shit. Thought that was a real nice coincidence -- if only I were so special.

[A pause.]

And, of course, the monsters. I hear there's more around the edges of the city? What, do they get pushed out every month?

[Which means the area around the city would get even more dangerous each month, too.]

[circumitus]

[Turns out Rey's gotten pretty protective of her establishment and her wares. It's become part of her routine that has no reminders of her previous lives, so maybe she's latched onto that a little.

[She blinks.] Prosthetic...

[Rey hadn't really been paying much attention to Avisheh's feet when she was getting dead skin snipped off. Having known a handful from her world who have robotic limbs themselves, it's not something Rey thinks about here.]

Hope pushes them out, yes. Be glad you missed the past few months of bullshit; he was still hurt pretty bad, so he wasn't able to keep them out as effectively for a while.

[unnature]

[Avisheh smirks.]

Prosthetic.

[She lifts a plastic-and-metal foot up onto her chair as if to show it off. It is pretty fancy, all things considered. There's intricate detail in the shape of it to make the transition from flesh ankles and feet to black steel and hard plastic a supposedly-seamless one, muscle and bone and sinew all accounted for in the construction. The parts shift correspondingly to her flexing of the ankle joint, showing off that it has a full swivel that responds to her brain through the use of a neural-control interface.]

Got two. Like I said, funny coincidence. On the contrary, though, I'm a little sad I missed all the action. Maybe I could've been patching you up sooner. I am the best at what I do, after all.

Though I may be better off -- I'm a poor runner.